NEW WEBSITE: JUNE 2009/APRIL/AUGUST 2012
THE UNIVERSAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT, INDORE:
“DHARMA BHARATHI” IN A NEW AVATAR
WORSHIPPING THE DIVINE SELF WITHIN.
FR. VARGHESE ALENGADEN
PHOTOGRAPH OF A CATHOLIC NUN IN FR. VARGHESE
ALENGADEN’S NEW AGE MEDITATION ROOM!
'Mirror Room' Helps People Discover Divinity Within Themselves
20, 2008
UCAN Photo: Sister C. Lissy, Congregation of Jesus, at the meditation room of the Universal Solidarity Movement headquarters in Indore, India, on July 8, 2008
INDORE, India (UCAN)Sister C. Lissy could not help laughing when she first entered the meditation room of theUniversal Solidarity Movement (USM). "I looked all around for the tabernacle in the dim light," the Congregation of Jesus nun admitted to UCA News, "but all I could see was a small ceiling fan, a tube light and a gigantic mirror on a wall."
The sari-clad nun, 32, began wondering why the room did not even have a crucifix, but then her eye caught a black, wooden sign above the two-square-meter mirror. Written on it were the English words "God within" and a phrase in Sanskrit, "Aham brahmasmi (I am God)."
The nun, a volunteer at USM headquarters at Indore, Madhya Pradesh state, 810 kilometers south of New Delhi, said an electric shock passed through her as she read the words, but the message took more than a week to sink in.
The unusual meditation room is the brainchild of 56-year-old Father Varghese Alengaden, who founded USM 16 years ago to combat the sectarianism that was then sweeping across India and leaving more than a thousand dead in riots. The movement, the priest explained to UCA News, aims to generate responsible citizens to promote harmony among India's various groups by encouraging them to live the values of their respective religions. The "mirror room" is just one of various methods he uses to promote harmony and solidarity, he said.
Father Alengaden said Saint Paul's words, "God lives within you," prompted him to devise the room. People change drastically once they understand they are the image of God, he said, and "we'd then have no problem to accept the other person as also an image of God." In his view, this realization will help people accept plurality and equality, and dissuade them from harming others.
"The meditation room is open to all, but only one at a time," the bearded priest added in his sonorous voice. He said USM volunteers spend at least an hour a day in the room when they are in Indore, and they must keep their eyes focused on the image in the mirror while praying.
According to Sister Lissy, the six-square-meter room appears simple but praying there is tough. Initially, the idea seemed quite outlandish, she recalled, and "I used to laugh seeing me in the mirror." But after a week or so, "I realized God is within me, not in a church. I also realized I was confronting myself and this helped me behave better with others."
She also discovered "more meaning" in praying before the mirror than meditating before the tabernacle or in a church. "God is merciful, beautiful, kind and compassionate, and so am I, because God is within me," she added.
This realization has helped her overcome biases, she continued. "You will not differentiate between black and white, tall and short, Hindu and Muslim, because all are the image of God and He lives in them." She said she used to focus on her shortcomings while praying, "but once you begin to analyze yourself before the mirror, you realize that what you considered as weakness is a blessing in disguise. You learn to appreciate God's creation and thank Him."
Sister Anjali John, USM's former director, says the mirror room is her strength. "I had been praying before the crucifix or the tabernacle, so I first thought it was foolish to pray before the mirror," she told UCA News. However, the Holy Spirit nun soon realized that facing oneself is tougher than encountering others. "If you sincerely look at yourself in a mirror, it will become your strength," the 44-year-old nun said.
Sister Sunita Pinto, another Congregation of Jesus nun who is on a three-month training program at USM headquarters, told UCA News she finds the mirror room "wonderful," even if it distracted her at first.
After a week in the room, USM's director, Father Varghese Kunnath, 49, told UCA News, people become aware of "a divine presence" there, and "this divinity is exuded by your reflection, which in a way is just another image of God."
MY COMMENTS:
All the nuns interviewed by UCAN, Sr. Lissy, Sr. Anjali John and Sr. Sunita Pinto were apparently first ‘conventional’ in their approach to prayer. As any Catholic might do, they looked for the tabernacle and the crucifix and found the lack of them and their replacement by a huge wall-mirror under an ‘I am God’ sign either worth a hearty laugh [ridiculous] or distracting.
But eventually, like many other nuns now in the religious orders in Indore [as I understand from a priest-friend there], they have capitulated to this New Age form of prayer which is propagated by Fr. Alengaden and Fr. Kunnath. Read once again the comments of two of the nuns after their being compromised:
Sr. Lissy: "I realized God is within me, not in a church." She also discovered "more meaning" in praying before the mirror than meditating before the tabernacle or in a church.
Sister Anjali John, USM's former director:"I had been praying before the crucifix or the tabernacle [but now] the mirror room is my strength.If you sincerely look at yourself in a mirror, it will become your strength."
In a conventional chapel where Catholics venerate the image of Jesus Christ on a crucifix or adore His Real Presence in the Eucharist exposed in a monstrance or reposed in a tabernacle, there is no question of where true divinity is to be found. But in a Hindu-ised situation, as Fr. Kunnath admits, "this divinity is exuded by your reflection, which in a way is just another image of God." I AM GOD. AHAM BRAHMASMI.
I quote from page four of the New Indian Express, Chennai, supplement of May 28, 2009,
"Understanding the conscious you: The essence of teaching in the Manisha Panchakam is that what we call as ourself is made up of consciousness. The first four verses have as its basis the four Mahavakyas of the Vedas which say – Pragnanam Brahma (consciousness is Brahman), Aham Brahmasmi (I am consciousness), Tat Tvam Asi (you are that consciousness) and Ayam Atma Brahma (This soul is consciousness)…"
All is one. All is consciousness. This is the monism of Hinduism, not the dualism of Christianity.
The February 3, 2003 Vatican Document on the New Age explains that this consciousness is what the New Age sees as god, # 2.2.3, 2.3.4.1, etc., and 2.3.4.2 which reads:
There is talk of God, but it is not a personal God; the God of which New Age speaks is neither personal nor transcendent. Nor is it the Creator and sustainer of the universe, but an “impersonal energy” immanent in the world, with which it forms a “cosmic unity”: “All is one”. This unity is monistic, pantheistic or, more precisely, panentheistic. God is the “life-principle”, the “spirit or soul of the world”, the sum total of consciousness existing in the world. In a sense, everything is God. God's presence is clearest in the spiritual aspects of reality, so every mind/spirit is, in some sense, God.
The error is so subtle that the poor nuns miss it completely. The crucified or the Eucharistic Lord is replaced by their own images, their selves. In attempting to overcome their "ego", it is their ego that they focus on.
They believe that they are praying to the "God within" them. They are in effect praying to themselves.
A careful reading of the Vatican Document will provide a fuller appreciation of the extent of the deception.
Leo Fernando, UCAN reporter, who had interviewed me on the New Community Bible controversy, sent me the following link for the 57 comments posted against the UCAN report on the "Mirror meditation". Of course, as always, there were those who saw nothing wrong and even some merit in praying to oneself, but I have selected to copy below more than 40 of those postings that recognized error in the mirror technique:
From:Leo FernandoTo:prabhuSent: Friday, September 19, 2008 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE: MEETING CALLED BY A SENIOR BISHOP
Array ( [0] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 3059 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Virginia Saldanha [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => India [comment_author_IP] => 209.18.36.13 [comment_date] => 2008-09-09 02:55:46 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-09-08 18:55:46 [comment_content] => It makes me sad to read all the comments above. It reminds me of the poem – ‘Six Blind Men and the Elephant’, each sees the elephant from their own perspective and concludes what the whole elephant is like. I would like to highlight a few things that seem to have been overlooked. First that Universal Solidarity Movement is started in India which is a multi-religious country. There have been recent upsurges of religious extremists attacking the Christians on so called ‘issues of conversions’. Fr. Varghese’s attempt is to invite people from different religious communities to come to this meditation room, which cannot have religious objects of any one religious denomination (I think), so that they may realize some common truths that are shared by all, i.e. we are all made in the image of God and therefore the concept of ‘God within us’, (which is easily understood by the Hindu majority in India). He clearly mentions that “The movement aims to generate responsible citizens to promote harmony among India's various groups by encouraging them to live the values of their respective religions. The "mirror room" is just one of various methods he uses to promote harmony and solidarity.” If we only read the news of the severe attacks by religious extremist forces on Christians in Orissa, India, we will appreciate the need for some concrete measures to help people towards peaceful co-existence. I think the involvement of sisters in this programme is necessary because they are all working with different religious groups and they need to be catalysts for peace and harmony. It is also necessary to understand the cultural context of the interior parts of India where missionaries like Fr. Varghese and the sisters work in order to appreciate their work for inter-religious harmony and peace. I personally feel it is unfair to judge this initiative from a lens of “Western Catholic culture”. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [1] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2420 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Kathleen [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 216.246.75.167 [comment_date] => 2008-08-31 19:30:55 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-31 11:30:55 [comment_content] => Blatantly New Age! By looking in a mirror we are chosing our own will and not that of the Almighty and Eternal Father. Adoration, usually takes place after Benediction. Where is the Blessed Sacrament? If He is not in His Temple, how can we Adore Him! [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; IEMB3; IEMB3) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [2] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2140 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Anne [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => [comment_author_IP] => 61.9.129.154 [comment_date] => 2008-08-26 15:34:07 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-26 07:34:07 [comment_content] => I would like to make one more comment. It is true that we are made in the image and likeness of God. This image refers mainly to our soul, which has the same powers (imperfectly) as God, and they are our memory, intellect and will, free-will which we can use to love and adore ourselves or to freely love God. God within us, happens when we receive Him in Holy Communion, and He only stays with us if we are in state of grace, which means, free of mortal sin. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [3] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2079 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => brad rutherford [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => usa [comment_author_IP] => 89.149.169.146 [comment_date] => 2008-08-25 06:04:04 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-24 22:04:04 [comment_content] => This is very sad. A loss of faith among the witnesses. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [4] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2076 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => paednoch [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 128.242.191.36 [comment_date] => 2008-08-25 03:41:46 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-24 19:41:46 [comment_content] => Hellfire awaits. Pray for the souls who have fallen for this Satanic Ploy [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0; InfoPath.2) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [5] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2068 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => MW [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => England [comment_author_IP] => 84.53.134.196 [comment_date] => 2008-08-24 17:41:44 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-24 09:41:44 [comment_content] => A few years ago our local paper which sits lightly to received spelling carried a FOR SALE ad for "Large Oval Guilt-edged Mirror." It would have been appropriate here? [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/523.12 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0.4 Safari/523.12 [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [6] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2061 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Ellizabeth [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 24.25.26.61 [comment_date] => 2008-08-24 12:07:49 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-24 04:07:49 [comment_content] => This priest needs to be corrected by his Bishop, thus the Church has a solemn responsibility to stop heresy and the like. This Roman Catholic Church of ours must hold another Ecumenical Council and soon in order to correct so many of the errors taking place within the Church today. Which I will boldly add are leading many of us to Hell. So I ask where is the Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church in this circumstance? [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_5_1; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Safari/525.20 [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [7] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2059 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => momma [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => usa [comment_author_IP] => 204.2.215.103 [comment_date] => 2008-08-24 09:04:17 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-24 01:04:17 [comment_content] => get away from the computer. y,all will be better off. help your neighbor and in turn you shall help , "jesus's mission" had HE spent time on a computer i shudder to think where we would all be! may god bless y'all [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Comcast Install 1.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [8] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2050 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Jean [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 70.167.151.170 [comment_date] => 2008-08-24 05:29:30 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-23 21:29:30 [comment_content] => What is the priest thinking? Has he become so lethargic in his faith that he has to expose others to lunatic theology? We need to be smart enough to know when a priest is leading us in the wrong direction, and these sisters are not being very smart! If the priest really wanted to teach them to see God in others, he would find a way to direct their attention away from themselves and toward helping others who are also in the image of Christ. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; QS 4.2.2.3; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [9] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2047 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => narcisa martinez [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => usa [comment_author_IP] => 216.246.75.167 [comment_date] => 2008-08-24 01:52:32 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-23 17:52:32 [comment_content] => If it was true and that simple there would be no need for anything or anybody else. God knows that we don't even know ourselves ever! Therefore, the need for Himself and the gift of Himself to us. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; FunWebProducts; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [10] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2040 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => patrick f [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => [comment_author_IP] => 205.234.218.116 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 13:38:43 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-23 05:38:43 [comment_content] => This isnt new age...its very "old age" . Its Gnosticism. See the knowledge that is inside one's self. We are all equal to God, etc etc. We all know what happened to the people/abstracts in scripture who claimed equality to God. Read a bible [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.16) Gecko/20080702 Firefox/2.0.0.16 [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [11] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2029 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Frank J. Wodzinski [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => United States [comment_author_IP] => 216.246.75.167 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 06:09:25 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-22 22:09:25 [comment_content] => NONSENSE! NONSENSE! NONSENSE! [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [12] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2026 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Nancy [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 72.246.25.164 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 02:17:53 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-22 18:17:53 [comment_content] => Does this mean then that blind people cannot find God???? [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; Broward County Courthouse; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [13] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2025 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Carolyn [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => Canada [comment_author_IP] => 96.17.8.44 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 02:14:20 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-22 18:14:20 [comment_content] => Proceed with caution! We are not gods... we are God's creation, His children. Our consciences need to be formed based upon the "fullness" of Christ's truth and I agree that the mirror could help us in realizing that our actions must be Christ-like towards all of God's creation. However, it seems rather risky to actually pray before your own image. After all the New Agers could also use this as a helpful tool towards misleading souls. The sole place that Christ is tangibly present is in His greatest gift to us left at the Last Supper--the Holy Eucharist, which was a miraculous way for Him to remain "tangibly" with us until the end of times, as He promised to do. I pray that the priest involved in this realizes its limitations and recognizes the possible dangers involved in using any type of simple prop--especially mirrors. If kept as a simple tool for reminding us of our divine calling-- because of His divine presence in our souls-- this may be helpful, however, left alone too long in front of one's own image can also be used as an instrument of the devil so that we fall into the sin of pride and confusion... perhaps even thinking we have all we need within ourselves to become holy. It would seem wise to perhaps counsel people before and after going into the miror room, so that they understand the purpose of it and they should be directed to pray to Almighty God, Father of all of Creation and the Holy Trinity because of the love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which they need to "tap into" in order to love their brothers and sisters without discriminating, if they are being encouraged to pray at all while in front of the mirror. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.16) Gecko/20080702 Firefox/2.0.0.16 [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [14] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2024 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => James S. [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 72.215.224.21 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 01:44:21 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-22 17:44:21 [comment_content] => These poor devils. They are deprived of real sacraments thanks to the false teachings of the Novus Ordo new agers, and have no idea what it means to be Christian. The guy even read St. Paul out of context -- forgetting that St. Paul called the dieties of the Indian continent "devils" and advocated the destruction of their temples. Most people who fall for this "self-worship" have no idea about what's going on today. They've probably never even heard of Sedevacantism or know about the debates concerning the post-1958 papal candidates and their new sacraments! [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.8.0.13pre) Gecko/20070505 Iceape/1.0.9 (Debian-1.0.10~pre070720-0etch3) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [15] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2023 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Meg [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 72.247.241.95 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 01:24:38 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-22 17:24:38 [comment_content] => It is so sad that not only a Priest, but, Nuns, too, are saying that Jesus is not enough! Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will let them come to a true knowledge of themselves if they spend that 1 hr a day with Christ, Himself! New Age, Relativism, Denial..whatever you want to call it, has no TRUTH. ...because unless it's the whole truth, it's a lie. [comment_karma] => 0 [comment_approved] => 1 [comment_agent] => Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1) [comment_type] => [comment_parent] => 0 [user_id] => 0 ) [16] => stdClass Object ( [comment_ID] => 2022 [comment_post_ID] => 126335 [comment_author] => Rob [comment_author_email] => [comment_author_url] => USA [comment_author_IP] => 96.17.72.7 [comment_date] => 2008-08-23 01:09:38 [comment_date_gmt] => 2008-08-22 17:09:38 [comment_content] => “The Christians were at once the objects of hatred and contempt [by the populace of the Roman Empire].